Keeper of The Gate
by Ethereal Wishes
Summary: Just how did Sailor Pluto become the keeper of time?


**Keeper of the Gate**

**Author's Note: **I am writing this on behalf of my favorite outer senshi Sailor Pluto. I have always wondered how she got stuck with the duty of time guardian and this my interpretation. Please R&R!

_Smoke and debris swirled around in her glowing red orb as she marveled at what was left of the Moon Kingdom and her own palace. Everything had been wiped out in a flash of light from Mercury to Pluto. The Dark Kingdom had spared no one not even her small lonely little planet with a population more sparse than the Moon Kingdom itself. Everyone was gone except those who dwelled upon the Earth, but she couldn't leave here even if she'd wanted to. It was her duty to protect this time gate and make sure no evil penetrated it even if it meant watching all her friends die in an instant. There was nothing she could do but watch._

_~X~_

She admired her handiwork in front of her holding up the turquoise dress she had just finished for Michiru-the Neptunian Princess's fifteenth birthday. She would be traveling to Neptune the following night to help her friend get ready for her most important birthday yet-the one she would welcome with womanhood. Setsuna had already welcomed woman hood two years prior and still had no prince or power to show for it. Michiru was beating anticipating bachelors off with a stick, but she secretly knew she already had her eye on the mysterious Prince of Uranus who would also be attending the party.

Setsuna knew she had a duty awaiting her the moment she turned seventeen but had put it off until she could celebrate this one last night of freedom with her friend. She knew once she crossed into the next dimension that she would lose all her freedom and possibly all her friends but it was her duty and that was more important than anything else to her family.

The Plutonian royal family had a very special lineage passed down from generation to generation. They could control ultimately control time and the limitless power of space but unfortunately there were strict stipulations on that power.

"Setsuna dear are you all right?" a mellow voice called from her bedroom door.

"I'm fine mother." Setsuna assured her smiling as she walked towards the middle-aged woman. Her mother had the same tan skin as her own along with her peculiar colored olive hair.

"How are you fairing?" her mother asked pushing back strands of her hair as she spoke.

"What do you mean?" she questioned amused by the fact everyone thought she was utterly dreading leaving her home in order to go and protect some mysterious time gate.

"I mean ever since Chronos told you about the time gate and what it meant you would have to give up, you've practically not spoken to us since." she said softly with downcast eyes.

"Mother I've only wanted to get Michiru's dress finished before the party. It's the least I can do for my friend before I have to leave her and never get to see her again." she said sounding a little harsher than she had intended.

"I wish there was another way but there isn't." her mother sighed embracing her as if she could shield her from all the pain she would ever have to endure.

"Mother it will only be seven years right? Once I'm twenty four I'll be finished, and we can catch up like old times again." Setsuna comforted her while she struggled to hold back the tears forming in her own eyes.

"It will fly by quickly right?" her mother inquired.

"Right." Setsuna nodded hoping that she had been right indeed.

~X~

"Oh Setsuna you're the greatest!" Michiru squealed delightfully twirling around multiple times as the dress clung to her body like waves hugging the sand.

"Wait a minute!" Setsuna blinked as she noticed the huge teal diamond settled onto the Neptunian Princess's ring finger.

"Who bought you such a splendid gift?" Setsuna admired as she took her hand turning it over and over to get a better look at the gem.

"Oh well I wasn't going to say anything until the party but since you're my best friend anyways I'll just go ahead and tell you!" Michiru expressed excitedly.

"Well?" She pried.

"Haruka asked me to marry him! Isn't this exciting?" Michiru squealed for the second time.

"Wait who's Haruka?" Setsuna blinked.

"The Prince of Uranus of course! Don't you ever study up on your planetary ranks Sets?" Michiru scolded.

"You of all people should know I'm not very sociable person Michiru. You're my only friend and the only other princess I know except for Usagi-chan and the only reason why I know her is because of my family's close ties with the Moon Kingdom." Setsuna exploited.

"Well maybe you should be! If not how else are you ever going to get a man to notice you?" Michiru sneered.

"I'm not ready for that yet and you know it." Setsuna said softly avoiding the subject of her upcoming departure and why it would be useless to become serious with a man.

"Well the party is about to start! Let's get going! I want you to meet Haruka-sama!" Michiru replied forgetting their former conversation as she drug Setsuna out of her bedchamber.

~X~

The party was brilliant and lively with all of the most important dukes and nobles of Neptune present along with the Uranian Prince and herself of course. Michiru never left the Prince's arm as she chatted gaily with each of her attendants. Setsuna sighed having enough of the party and invited herself out onto a vacant balcony.

She sighed admiring the stars as she collected the wine colored fabric of her dress into her hands.

"Beautiful night isn't it?" an unfamiliar voice added.

"Who are you?" Setsuna blinked awestruck that she had overlooked the presence of another.

"I'm Linden, Michiru's very distant cousin." the voice replied revealing himself. Linden had the same wavy curls as Michiru except they were a bit more calm and a darker shade of teal. He had pulled them back in a pony tail away from his face but a few splayed into his face. He had almond shaped green eyes and a rounded face. He was very handsome and about an inch taller than she was.

"Nice to finally meet a beautiful lady I'm not related to here." he replied taking her hand and softly kissing it.

"I'm Setsuna Princess of Pluto and Michiru's good friend." she smiled blushing slightly.

"Oh a Princess then? I'm very sorry…Forgive me for being so rude." he apologized bowing ever so slightly.

"There's really no need in that." Setsuna assured him trying to wave him off.

"Well Princess could I have the honor of a dance then?" Linden inquired.

"Sure." Setsuna smiled as he took her hand, and they danced the night away.

~X~

Most of the party guests had long gone home, and Setsuna had caught a glimpse of Michiru and Haruka sneaking off together.

She and Linden had talked for hours about everything. He and Michiru were fifth cousins but had always been very close. She found out that he was the same age as she was, was a fisherman by trade, and had a hobby of fashioning tritons for the royal court.

"Yes such a fascinating life I live." he sighed looking deep into her eyes.

"Mine isn't much more fascinating." she laughed feeling herself smile for what seemed like for the first time in ages.

"I know this is sudden, but how would you feel about running away together?" he proposed propping his head up with one arm.

Setsuna felt like someone had shot an arrow straight through her heart. Run away? How was she going to run away from a duty she had been born with and that had been assigned to her long before her known existence?

"Linden I have to-" but he cut her off.

"Have to do what Setsuna? Guard a door someone told you to guard for seven long years by yourself?" he scoffed.

"It's my duty." she sighed turning away sadly.

"It sounds ridiculous if you ask me!" he remarked icily.

"I wish I could escape…You don't realize how much I wish I could be a normal person like you Linden." Setsuna said softly without facing him.

"You can change your future Setsuna…I know people who could take us as far away from here as Mercury." he retorted.

"I just can't do that Linden." she confirmed as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

"Well can I write you then? Perhaps after your time is up you might consider marrying me?" he shot out.

Setsuna felt her heart begin to race from his request not really knowing how to answer him but then the words came, " I'll marry you on one condition."

"What's that?" he questioned.

"You must never kiss or look at any other woman but me." she hissed pulling him down on top of her as she crushed her lips to his own. Linden moaned softly into her mouth as he intertwined his fingers through the tresses of her hair as the night marched on.

~X~

There she stood in guardian form ready to take her place at the post she would call home for the next seven years. The door she stood in front of was a large metal door full of ancient markings. It was in the deepest chambers of her castle and sealed shut until the present guardian opened it to trade off with the next guardian in line.

The present guardian was her cousin Iridessa who had faithfully watched the post until this point. She remembered playing with Iridessa as a small child and not understanding when she was told she had to go on a long journey until now. She stood in place as the door opened to reveal a woman close to her age who held a staff that controlled the very essence of time and space called the garnet rod.

"Well Setsuna you've turned into a very beautiful young woman." Iridessa smiled as she embraced her old friend.

"Iridessa how do you cope?" Setsuna inquired.

"I didn't." she replied.

"What do you mean?" Setsuna asked.

"Don't make any friends, forget your family, but most of all don't ever fall in love." Iridessa warned.

"Too late." Setsuna smiled as she fingered the garnet pendant around her neck.

"Well good luck to you both then. I just didn't want to have anything to lose when I went in, so I wouldn't expect to gain anything when I came out." she replied.

"He's different." she informed her.

"I see well if you really want to keep track of everyone, then you can watch them through this orb." Iridessa pointed out as she removed the orb off her present staff.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You and this staff are one. Once I hand it to you it feeds through your emotions, so whoever you think of will appear in this glass orb. You can't talk to them, but you can watch them closely and always know their okay." she replied.

"I see.." Setsuna replied taking the staff from Iridessa instantly feeling her soul lock with the magical talisman.

"Good luck Setsuna." Iridessa whispered as she stepped through the door and looked upon the last tangible person she would ever see for a long time.

~X~

The days drug by as she looked upon the lives of those she loved. She watched as her dear friend Michiru said I do and fell into wedded bliss. She mostly watched Linden. He wrote her everyday as promised, but she knew she would never be able to write back, but he knew that.

One day everything changed when news of the Dark Kingdom came into view. She wasn't prepared as she watched Prince Endymion of Earth sacrifice his life for the woman he loved or witness her take her own life. She watched as each of her guardian senshi were slaughtered and the rest were sealed away until they could be reborn. She also watched as the shadow of the Dark Kingdom cast all the other planets into desolate wastelands in which no one would ever be able to live. She watched as the love her life died right before her eyes within the orb she would be forever alone with never to be reborn.

**A/AN: Sorry for the gloomy ending…I may write another happier Linden and Setsuna fic if requested.**


End file.
